1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the issuance of credit accounts for individuals and/or other entities and relates, more specifically, to the issuance of credit card accounts for rendering financial purchases against a line of credit at a financial institution.
2. Description of the Related Art
Historically, individuals have applied for credit cards largely by mail. The credit card acquisition process has typically been an involved and time-consuming process, requiring significant time invested by the Applicant in accurately completing the form and by the card issuer in rendering a decision. In order to encourage individuals to take the time to fill out applications, credit card issuers have forwarded multitudes of application forms to the public on a daily basis. Credit card issuers have also commonly placed credit card forms in various public places for presentment to potential Applicants. In fact, it is fair to say that even today, these mail-in credit card application forms can be found nearly “everywhere.”
Faced with the time-consuming nature of the application process and the “inundation” of sometimes bothersome credit card forms, individuals are often reluctant to take the time to obtain new lines of credit and/or to close-out existing accounts even if more appropriate lines of credit may be available.
While other means have been developed for obtaining lines of credit, including on-line and telephone application processes, such other means are limited and/or remain highly time intensive. Some exemplary existing systems are seen, for example, in: U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,306 to Masuda (showing a method and system for issuing a store specific credit card to a customer immediately after the submission of a credit application); U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,452 to Masuda (showing a method and system for issuing a store specific credit card to a customer immediately after the submission of a credit application); and “Outsourcer Offers Instant Card Approval,” Credit Risk Management Report, Vol. 8, Issue 22 (Nov. 16, 1998) (discussing a system for notifying Web credit card Applicants of credit decisions in an instant, but where customers whose credit applications are approved receive credit cards within 24-48 hours after submission of their application.).
There remains a need for individuals and/or other entities to be able to apply for lines of credit “instantly” and via “various” distribution channels. Moreover, there remains a need for instant credit authorization for credit cards owned by multiple issuer associations, such as VISA™ and Mastercard™. These associations and their card approval and product purchasing processes create difficulties for the issuance of instant credit, and which processes are out of the control of individual issuers. There also remains a need for systems whereby credit card issuers can more positively promote their credit card product lines with minimal public disturbance and at times and places where their promotions are—in fact—desirable and helpful.